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Why I don’t need Souvenirs Anymore

On WednesdayI shared a bit about our trip to Wisconsin Dells last weekend. What fun we had!

In the past, whenever David and I would go on trips like this I would look forward to the souvenir shopping… I never left an outlet mall unexplored!

In fact, shopping was half the fun of travel.

But since I decided to switch to shopping ethically, it put a pretty fast halt on that particular travel enjoyment of mine. So much so, that it made me realize how much time it had taken out of our previous travels.

I realized this past weekend that without shopping, we were much more able to experience our trip.

Without shopping, we had space to dig into our trip and be so much more focused on our environment.

It was so refreshing.

It made me giddy to experience more trips without the distraction of shopping.

So cheers to finding joy in my travels instead of the perfect pair of shoes!

Comments

We used to collect a cook book from wherever we visited, but after multiple moves I’ve realized that those books often sit idle on the shelf and are super heavy to haul from house to house. We’ve since done a big meal at a nice restaurant and go all out instead of shopping. It really does add so much more to the experience than a souvenir!

We have a few big boxes in our garage with mementos that we have collected over the years. When we moved to our house we put everything in the garage until we could move it in to its final location inside the home. Those boxes have NOT been touched in over a year. This post reminded me that memories are so much more important than the tangible items we shop for. Those experiences are worth it!

I think it’s great you are choosing to enjoy more experiences over shopping! I usually go to one souvenir shop and find a tshirt or something useful, but I don’t allow myself hours of shopping. Like you said, you can enjoy more of your trip if you don’t spend it all in stores!

I never thought about the time it saves. I’m not much of a souvenir shopper when I travel, but last year before we moved back to the U.S., I spent a day browsing souvenir shops on our last trip to the Netherlands. It was odd, we lived in Germany for 5 years and I took a million trips to the NL, but it was the first time I really went into souvenir shops. We ended up with a flower pot and a potholder than do bring a smile to my face when I see them.

Yes to everything in this post! I used to love souvenir shopping and had a weakness for tee shirts from the places I had explored. Now, I am free to focus on the place and not try to find the “perfect thing to bring home” it’s a good thing I learned that lesson already otherwise, with these next two years of traveling, I’d need another suitcase. 😛

This is so true! I always look for somewhere to shop on trips, but this last family trip, I decided not too. We had already spent enough on the actual trip, and had no room to bring home things. It really saved a lot of time, and it was actually a relief not trying to find a way to squeeze in shopping without annoying my family.

I don’t typically buy souvenirs because I don’t want to take up space. We aren’t minimalists, but we don’t like clutter and having too much “stuff” with no where to put it. Pretty pictures. Love your fab outfit!

The only souvenir that we tend to get is a Christmas ornament from each state that we visit. It isn’t a lot and it is fun to take them out once a year and reminisce about where they came from. Other than that, I don’t spend money or time on souvenirs that you don’t use or look at. It’s so much more fun to explore the place you are at.

That’s awesome! I don’t like to buy souvenirs much because most of them are just clutter. We usually will each get a tshirt so that we have something memorable that will get used + it doesn’t take much time shopping.

I have never been a souvenir person. Unless it is an article of clothing (the long sleeved ski shirt from ALTA) or practical (The overnighted from Italy) I rarely buy something just for the memory of it. I always feel badly for the yahoots on the plane with their sombreros from Mexico…..

I LOVE the idea of a scarf from every place I go to, but then I found myself buying a scarf just to buy it and then I had a stock pile of scarves I was never wearing… great idea in theory, but not practical haha!

I hardly ever bring back souvenirs, either, but I do buy postcards to send to my readers and sometimes buy myself a t-shirt from a memorable location. Definitely nothing that needs to be dusted or would just be a waste of my money. You are right, takes much precious time, too.

I stopped shopping for souvineers a long time ago and it makes such a difference to be unburdened by the need to make a purchase. Much more time is devoted to enjoying our location and truly experiencing where we are. We do send ourselves a postcard from each locale which is always fun to receive in the mail when we return home, so I guess thats something…

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